Ink jet apparatus and ink jet cartridge therefor

ABSTRACT

An ink cartridge detachably mountable to an ink jet recording apparatus, the ink cartridge containing ink to be supplied to a recording head includes an ink container for containing the ink; and an adaptor having a receptor for detachably receiving the ink container and an information medium for storing information relating to the ink, the information being transmitted to the ink jet recording apparatus when the ink cartridge is mounted therein.

.Iadd.This application is a continuation of application Ser. No.08/635,569, filed Apr. 22, 1996, now abandoned, which is a continuationof application Ser. No. 08/288,262, filed Aug. 11, 1994, now abandoned,which is a reissue application of U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,344..Iaddend.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART

The present invention relates to an ink jet apparatus and an ink jetcartridge usable for an office recorder such as copying machine,facsimile machine, word-processor and various printers and a dyeingmachine wherein a desired image is formed on a material by ejection ofink, more particularly to an ink jet apparatus having a cartridgemounting portion for detachably accepting an ink jet cartridge forsupplying the ink to a recording head, and to an ink jet cartridgetherefor.

The ink jet recording apparatus is advantageous in that the noise duringthe recording operation is so small that it can be neglected, and inthat the recording can be effected on plain printer, and therefore,various type are put into practice, recently. Among various types of inkjet recording process, a so-called bubble-jet recording method isparticularly advantageous because it uses thermal energy as the energyfor ejecting the ink. More particularly, the ink supplied with thethermal energy is subjected to the state change with the result ofabrupt volume change (film boiling), by which the ink is ejected throughan ejection outlet (discharging opening) at an end of the recording headto produce a flying droplet of the ink. The droplet is deposited on therecording material disposed faced to the head, so that a desired imagecan be formed.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show an example of such a recording head. In theseFigures, reference numeral 101 designates an ink passage communicatingwith an ink ejection outlet 102; 103, a heat acting portion at which thethermal energy is supplied to the ink in the ink passage 101; 104, anelectrothermal transducer formed at the heat acting portion 103; 105, anelectrode for supplying the electric energy to the electrothermaltransducer 104; 106, a heat generating resistor; 107, a protection layerfor protecting the heat generating resistor layer 106 and the electrode105 from the ink or from the cavitation. The protection layer 107 isalso effective to prevent the electric leakage, the thermal oxidation,the corrosion by the cavitation resulting from the bubbles.

In such a recording head, when the electrothermal transducer 104 issupplied with the electric energy, the ink at the heat acting portion103 receives the thermal energy (ink droplet forming energy) and issubjected to an abrupt volume increase (state change), moreparticularly, the ink at the heat acting portion 103 is instantaneouslyevaporated, thus producing a bubble. By the development of the bubble,the ink existing between the heat acting portion 103 and the inkejection outlet 102 is ejected as a droplet of the ink. During therepetitive production and dissipation of the bubble, the ink issubjected to the high temperature, and therefore, ink material which isthermally instable is easily chemically changed. If this occurs, aninsoluble material is precipitated, which may lead to the ink ejectionfailure of the recording head. In order to effect a recording operationin a long term at a high recording speed using such a recording head, itis very important to improve the stability of the ink, and the optimumdriving conditions are selected to meet the property of the ink in therecording head.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the change with time of the surfacetemperature T of the heat acting surface 108 and the volume V of theproduced bubble when the electrothermal transducer 104 of the recordinghead having the structure described above is supplied with the electricsignal having the pulse-wave form as indicated by a reference characterP. Assuming that electric signal P is supplied to the electrothermaltransducer 104, the electric signal P being in the form of a pulserising at time t₀ and time t_(f), then the surface temperature T of theheat acting surface 108 reaches its maximum temperature Tp at the timet_(f). If the maximum temperature Tp is higher than a boiling point Tbof the ink in contact with the heat acting surface 108, the bubble isformed at time t_(b0) when T=Tb, at the heat acting portion 103 filledwith the ink. With the elapse of time, the volume of the bubbleincreases, and the volume reaches its maximum volume V_(p) at the timet_(p).

When the electric signal P is shut off at the time t_(f), the surfacetemperature T starts to decrease, and the volume V of the bubble alsodecreases. In order to stably eject the droplet of the ink in the inkjet recording apparatus, the ink jet recording apparatus has aprogrammed hardware or software to control the film boiling driveconditions such as the voltage, pulsewidth or frequency of the electricenergy supplied to the electrothermal transducer and the control of apreliminary ejection for the practically stabilized recording operation,in accordance with the properties of the ink used in the ink jetrecording apparatus. Therefore, if an ink material which is for anothertype of apparatus is used, the proper recording operation is noteffected. In consideration of this, the configuration of the inkcartridge is so selected that it can be used only with the properrecording apparatus.

In the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, however, the ink cannot be freely selected, and therefore, it is difficult to use the inknot proper for the ink jet recording apparatus. Even if better ink isdeveloped in the feature, it is still not usable because the program inthe apparatus is not always proper. In order to solve such problems,some proposals have been made. For example, there is a proposal that theuser sets the hardware or the software in accordance with the materialof the ink. This is good in that the control parameters of the ink jetrecording apparatus can be finely selected in accordance with thematerial of the ink. However, there are a great number of parameters tobe selected, and therefore, the selecting operation is cumbersome, inaddition, if the setting is erroneous, the proper printing is noteffected, or the recording head experiences the overload. Therefore, thereliability is not sufficient.

In another proposal, the ink cartridge is provided with informationmedium (a resistor element, magnetic medium, bar-code, IC or ROM, forexample) bearing information relating to the control parameters for theink jet recording apparatus, so that the ink jet recording apparatus canautomatically select the proper parameters in accordance with theinformation. According to this proposal, the information peculiar to theink contained in the ink cartridge is assuredly transmitted to the mainassembly of the recording apparatus, and the proper recording operationis guaranteed, and therefore, it is very good. However, it requires thata relatively expensive information medium such as a semiconductor memorymeans be provided for each of the cartridges, resulting in the increaseof the cost of the ink cartridge. Furthermore, in order to permit theinformation to be read from the information medium into the ink jetrecording head, a number of connections (for example, ROM) which arerequired to be correctly connected with the corresponding electrodes inthe main assembly. Therefore, the mechanical accuracy has to be enhancedin the relative positional relations between the main assembly of theapparatus and the ink jet cartridge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention toprovide an improved structure for the transmission of the informationfrom the ink cartridge to the main assembly of the recording apparatus.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an ink jetrecording apparatus and an ink jet cartridge wherein the controlparameters of the ink jet recording apparatus can be correctly andeasily changed in accordance with the material of the ink contained.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ink jetrecording apparatus and an ink cartridge structure wherein the highquality recording operation is possible with an increased reliability.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided anink cartridge detachably mountable to an ink jet recording apparatus,said ink cartridge containing ink to be supplied to a recording head,comprising: an ink container for containing the ink; and an adapterhaving a receptor for detachably receiving said ink container and aninformation medium for storing information relating to the ink, theinformation being transmitted to said ink jet recording apparatus whensaid ink cartridge is mounted therein.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan ink jet apparatus, comprising: an ink supply system for supplying inkfrom an ink cartridge containing the ink to be supplied to a recordinghead to the recording head; a recovery system for maintaining andrecovering ink ejection from the recording head; a receptor to which theink jet cartridge is detachably mountable; wherein said receptor isprovided with a contact for electric contact with an information mediumof the ink cartridge to read the information, wherein the ink cartridgecomprises an ink container containing the ink and an adapter having areceptor for the ink container and the information medium bearing theinformation relating to the ink.

According to an aspect of the present invention, only an ink cassette istaken out of the ink cartridge after the ink is used up, and isexchanged with a fresh one, leaving an adapter having the informationmedium bearing the information representative of the property of the inkin the ink cassette. Therefore, the adapter can be continued to be used.

The ink cassette and the adapter so related, that only the proper inkcassette can be set in the adapter. Therefore, the information relatingto the ink is correctly and assuredly transmitted to the recordingapparatus. Therefore, even if the ink cartridge in which the inkcassette is exchanged, the recording head can be property driven inaccordance with the property of the ink in the exchanged ink cassette.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent upon a consideration of thefollowing description of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a sectional view of a recording head of a bubble jettype.

FIG. 2 is a graph of changes with time of the surface temperature of theheat acting surface and a volume of a produced bubble when a pulseelectric signal is supplied to an electrothermal transducer of therecording head.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of an ink jet recordingapparatus to which the present invention is applicable.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example of an ink cassette andadapter structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates the mounting of the ink jet cartridge having the inkcassette and the adapter into the ink jet recording apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an electric circuit in the apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of sequential operations after the main switch isactuated and until the recording operation is effected.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an ink cartridge according to anotherembodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the embodiments of the presentinvention will be described in detail.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown an example of an ink jet recordingapparatus to which the present invention is applicable. It comprises arecording head 1 carried on a carriage 2. The carriage 2 is driven by anunshown carriage driving motor through a timing belt stretched inconjunction with an idler pulley not shown. The carriage 2 reciprocatesalong a guide shaft 3 by rotation of the motor in the oppositedirections. To the recording head 1, the ink is supplied from the inkcartridge 4 through an unshown ink tube, and during the movement of thecarriage 2 from the left to the right, the ink is ejected to a recordingmaterial 5 in the form of a recording sheet, for example, which is fedto be faced to the ink jet ejection outlet (not shown). During therelative movement between the scanning recording head and the recordingmaterial, a desired image is formed.

The apparatus further comprises a fixed platen 6 in the form of a platefor supporting the recording sheet 5 in faced relation with therecording head 1 with a predetermined clearance therebetween, a feedingroller 7 for feeding the recording sheet 5, a pinch roller 8 inpress-contact with the feeding roller 7 to nip the recording sheet 5therebetween, a pinch roller holder 9 for applying the urging force tothe pinch roller 7. The holder 7 is made of stainless steel plate or thelike, and the resilient force deflects the pinch roller 7 toward thefeeding roller 7. Upper and lower guides 10 and 11 are effective toretain the recording sheet 5 which is manually fed, for example and tofeed it to between the feeding roller 7 and the pinch roller 8.

The recording sheet 5 supplied by the feeding roller 7 and the pinchroller 8 is nipped between a discharging roller 12 and a spur not shownpress-contacted thereto after it is subjected to the recording operationby the recording head 1. In the left part of FIG. 3, there is shown ahollow needle 20 with which the ink cartridge 4 is pierced when the inkcartridge 4 is inserted through the cartridge inlet 21 along thecartridge guide 22. Through the hollow needle 20 and an unshown tube,the ink is supplied to the recording head 1.

A recovery means 23 effects cleaning, capping and recovery operationswhen the recording head 1 is moved to an initial position (non-recordingposition) during interruption or rest period of the recording head 1.

Referring to FIG. 4, the description will be made as to the structure ofthe ink cartridge 4. The ink cartridge 4 comprises an ink container forcontaining the ink used for the recording and having an ink absorbingmaterial 28 for retaining the ejected ink, an ink cassette 25, and anadapter 26 to which the ink cassette 25 is detachably mounted. The inkcassette 25 has an ink bag 27 for containing the ink to be supplied tothe recording head and an ink absorbing material 28 for retainingresidual ink which has been ejected by idle ejection (preliminaryejection) due to the recovery operation for maintaining and recoveringthe correct ink ejection through the recording head. The outer casing ofthe ink cassette 25 is made of molded plastic material into an outersize or an outer configuration adapted to the size and the configurationof the ink cassette receptor 26A of the adapter 26. The outer casing ofthe ink cassette 25 may be made of metal or hard paper, if it is toproperly retain the content.

In this embodiment, a recess 29 is formed at a predetermined position inan outer surface of the ink cassette 25. Correspondingly, the internalsurface of the ink cassette receptor 26A of the adapter 26 is formedinto a projection fitting the configuration of the recess 29. Therefore,only when the size and the configuration of the recess 29 and theprojection are met, the ink cassette 25 can be mounted to the adapter26. The adapter 26 is made of plastic mold or metal with high precision.As shown in the Figure, the ink cassette 25 can be fitted in thedirection of the arrow into the ink cassette receptor.

The flexible ink bag 27 accommodated in the ink cassette 25 is connectedthrough a tube or the like with a capping member 31 made of elasticmaterial such as silicone rubber which can be pierced with the hollowneedle 20 for the supply of the ink upon the mounting of the inkcartridge 4 on the recording apparatus. An information medium 32 issupported on that side of the adapter 26 which is for the connectionwith the apparatus. The recording medium is capable of electrically orelectronically storing the information. It may be in the form of a ROM,an electrically erasable ROM, a resistor, a capacitor, a battery, abattery backed-up RAM, logic circuit or the like.

The information medium may store physical memory, for example, byproviding a particular configuration to the adapter 26, by differentoptical reflecting or transparent properties, by magnetic recording. Inthese cases, the ink jet recording apparatus is provided with aninformation reading means corresponding thereto.

The information medium 32 bears information necessary for the controlfor the main assembly of the ink jet recording apparatus in accordancewith the material of the ink accommodated in the ink cassette 25.Designated by a reference 32A is a contact of the information medium 32to establish the electric connection between the information medium 32and the main assembly of the ink jet recording apparatus. The contact32A has contact elements disposed at a high density, and therefore, itcan be accommodated in a small area. A rail 33 is formed at each side ofthe adapter 26. When the ink cartridge 4 is inserted through theinsertion inlet 21 along the cartridge guide 22, the rails 33 areengaged with unshown guiding grooves, by which the ink cartridge 4 iscorrectly positioned, and in addition, the correct relative positionbetween the information medium and the leading means is assured.

In addition, in this embodiment, the capping member 31 of the inkcassette 25 which is connected with the supplying hollow needle 20 is inthe form of a projection, and when the ink cassette 25 is mounted in theadapter 26, the wall surface 25A of the portion constitutes a side wallof the adapter.

Adjacent the capping member 31, there is an opening 44 to accept aresidual ink tube 42 of the apparatus for the ink absorbing material 28for absorbing the residual ink. The opening 44 is overlapped with aresidual ink recepting opening 43 of the adapter 26 when the inkcassette 25 is mounted in the adapter 26.

The opening 44 may be formed so as to be larger than the opening 43, asshown in FIG. 4. It may have the same size and configuration as theopening 43, if it can properly receive the residual ink.

A fixed or replaceable absorbing material may be provided at the regionsadjacent the front surface 25b of the ink cassette 25 and the insidesurface 26b of the adapter 26 for receiving the residual ink, in orderto prevent the leakage of the residual ink.

In addition, the opening 44 may be provided with a film or a sheet-likecovering member which may be broken by a tube 42 when the ink cartridgeis mounted to the assembly. By doing so, the residual ink may bedischarged. The covering member may be provided with a slit at aposition where the tube is inserted. The provision of the coveringmember is effective to prevent the scattering of the residual ink whenthe residual ink flows and the falling of the residual ink from theresidual ink absorbing material upon the exchange of the ink cassetteafter the use-up thereof.

In the ink cartridge 4 described in the foregoing, the fitting betweenthe recess 29 of the ink cassette and the projection 30 of the adapter26 is predetermined in accordance with the material of the ink containedin the ink cassette 25. The information medium 32 of the adapter 26bears information for the controlling operation of the main assembly ofthe recording apparatus suitable for the material of the ink containedin the ink cassette 25. Therefore, the ink cassette 25 of one kind isusable only with the adapter 26 having the information medium 32corresponding to the control information suitable for the material ofthe ink contained in the cassette.

By using the two part structure including the ink cassette containingthe ink and the adapter for accommodating the cassette, the operator isrequired only to set a fresh ink cassette into the adapter after the inkis used up. The adapter is reusable so that the running cost can bereduced. Since the information medium for transmitting the informationis not exchanged, therefore, the accuracy in the connection with themain assembly can be sufficiently maintained.

FIG. 5 shows the state wherein the ink cartridge 4 including the inkcassette 25 and the adapter 26 is mounted in the ink cartridge receptorof the ink jet recording apparatus of FIG. 4. Here, the preciseengagement is established between the rails 33 of the adapter 26 and theguides 41 in the cartridge inserting inlet 21 of the ink jet recordingapparatus, and when the ink cartridge 4 is inserted in the direction ofthe arrow, the capping member 31 is pierced with the hollow ink needle20 disposed at the receptor 40 of the ink jet recording apparatus, sothat the ink in the ink bag 27 can be supplied to the ink jet recordingapparatus.

The ink forcedly ejected from the ink jet recording head 1 by the inkrefilling operation, flows through a tube 42 of the main assembly of therecording apparatus and is absorbed by the residual ink absorbingmaterial 28 through the openings 43 and 44. When the ink cartridge 4 iscompletely mounted in the cartridge receptor 40, the electric connectionis established between the contacts 32A and the corresponding connectingpins 45 electrically connected with the controller of the ink jetrecording apparatus, which will be described hereinafter, so that thecontrolling information stored in the information medium 32 can beaccessed by the CPU of the main assembly of the ink jet recordingapparatus.

The ink cassette 25 is provided with serrations 25C and 25D forfacilitating mounting and dismounting thereof relative to the adapter 26in addition to the recess 29 for the engagement with the adapter 26. Theserrations 25C and 25D are provided at the respective sides of the inkcassette 25. The serrations 25C and 25D, in this embodiment, alsofunction to confine the engaging relation with the adapter 26. They areengaged with engaging portions 26D which is in the form of a cut-awayportions at a side of the adapter 26.

The serrations 25D may have recess and projections which are the same asthose of the rails 33 to constitute a part of the rail 33 used when themounting or dismounting.

The serrations 25D may be projected from the side surface of the adapter26 when the ink cassette 25 is mounted in the adapter 26. If this isdone the serrations 25D is abutted to a guide 41 of the main assembly ofthe recording apparatus, so that they function as an insertion positionlimiting member of the entire ink cartridge 4.

When this structure is used, it may be made peculiar to the ink cassetteso the positional relation between the hollow needle 20 and the ink bagcan be assured. Therefore, in the case of color recording, the insertionlength of the hollow needle 20 into the ink bag and the length relationbetween the guide 41 and the stopper 25D, can be made peculiar to theindividual color ink, by which the erroneous insertion can be prevented,or the hollow needle is prevented, upon erroneous insertion, fromreaching the ink bag.

FIG. 6 shows the control system of the ink jet recording apparatus inconnection with the ink cartridge 4. A central processing unit (CPU) 50,and memory in the form of ROM or RAM 51 are provided. When the mainswitch of the recording apparatus is actuated with the connectiontherebetween established, the data in the information medium 32 are readthrough an interface 52 into the memory 51 in accordance with the stepswhich will be described hereinafter. The recording apparatus comprises acontroller 53, input and output controller 54, a head driver 55, aperipheral programmable interface (PPI) for a host computer, a data bus57 and an address bus 58.

Referring to FIG. 7, the description will be made as to the controlsteps until the start of the recording operation when the ink cartridge4 is mounted.

Upon the actuation of the main switch, the discrimination is made as towhether or not the ink cartridge is mounted, at step S1. If not, awarning is produced at step S2. If it is mounted, the operation proceedsto step S3 wherein the data is read from the ROM of the memory 51. Thediscrimination is made as to whether or not there is data, at step S4.If not, step S5 is executed by which a warning lamp is actuated. If so,the operation proceeds to step S6 wherein the driving parameters storedin the information medium 32 are transferred to the RAM of the memory51. Then, on the basis of the data transferred, the recording head ispreliminary heated in accordance with the conditions set in accordancewith the driving parameters, at step S7. The discrimination is made atstep S8 whether or not the recording operation is possible. If so, thesequential operation for the recording operation is effected at step S9.

FIG. 8 shows a structure of an ink cartridge 34 according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. It comprises an ink cassette 35, anadapter 36 and an ink cassette 35 which has only an ink absorbingmaterial 28 and an ink bag 27. They are accommodated in the order named.When the ink absorbing material 28 and the ink cassette 35 areaccommodated in the receptor 36A, they can be accepted only when therecess 29 of the ink cassette 35 is matched with the engaging projection36 of the receptor 36A. When a top cover 37 of the adapter is closed, anink cartridge 34 in the form of a unit is established. The top cover 37is cut into a configuration matching the configuration of the cappingmember 31 of the bag 27. If the configurations do not match, the topcover 37 can not be closed. If this is done, the erroneous insertion ofthe ink cassette 35 can be further prevented.

In this embodiment, the information medium 32 of the adapter 36 bearscontrolling information corresponding to the material of the ink in theink cassette 35, similarly to the foregoing embodiment.

According to this embodiment, the ink cassette 35 and the residual inkabsorbing material 28 can be separately exchanged, and therefore, eitherof them can be exchanged when it becomes out of use. In any embodiments,the information medium 32 is provided. The adapter which is relativelymore expensive than the ink cassette can be continued to be used even ifthe ink cassette is exchanged for replenishing the ink. Therefore, therunning cost of the recording apparatus can be reduced.

In addition, the information medium is not exchanged even if the ink isused up, and therefore the connection with the main assembly ismaintained correct.

The residual ink absorbing material 28 is sealed to prevent the leakageof the ink to the outside of the adapter 36 constituting the inkcartridge 34.

The outer periphery of the ink absorbing material 28 may be covered witha film or sheet material to provide the sealing. If this is done, theoperator's hand will not be contaminated upon exchange of the absorbingmaterial 28. Alternatively or in addition, the adapter may be providedwith a partition member for isolating the ink cassette 35 and theresidual ink absorbing material 28. By doing so, the sealing can beassured, and the ink cassette 35 may be prevented from beingcontaminated with the residual ink.

The present invention is particularly suitably usable in a bubble jetrecording head and recording apparatus developed by Canon KabushikiKaisha, Japan. This is because, the high density of the picture element,and the high resolution of the recording are possible.

The typical structure and the operational principle are preferably theones disclosed in U.S. Pat Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740,796. The principleis applicable to a so-called on-demand type recording system and acontinuous type recording system particularly however, it is suitablefor the on-demand type because the principle is such that at least onedriving signal is applied to an electrothermal transducer disposed on aliquid (ink) retaining sheet or liquid passage, the driving signal beingenough to provide such a quick temperature rise beyond a departure fromnucleation boiling point, by which the thermal energy is provide by theelectrothermal transducer to produce film boiling on the heating portionof the recording head, whereby a bubble can be formed in the liquid(ink) corresponding to each of the driving signals. By the developmentand collapse of the bubble, the liquid (ink) is ejected through anejection outlet to produce at least one droplet. The driving signal ispreferably in the form of a pulse, because the development and collapseof the bubble can be effected instantaneously, and therefore, the liquid(ink) is ejected with quick response. The driving signal in the form ofthe pulse is preferably such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,359and 4,345,262. In addition, the temperature increasing rate of theheating surface is preferably such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.4,313,124.

The structure of the recording head may be as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos.4,558,333 and 4,459,600 wherein the heating portion is disposed at abent portion in addition to the structure of the combination of theejection outlet, liquid passage and the electrothermal transducer asdisclosed in the above-mentioned patents. In addition, the presentinvention is applicable to the structure disclosed in Japanese Laid-OpenPatent Application Publication No. 123670/1984 wherein a common slit isused as the ejection outlet for plural electrothermal transducers, andto the structure disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.138461/1984 wherein an opening for absorbing pressure wave of thethermal energy is formed corresponding to the ejecting portion. This isbecause, the present invention is effective to perform the recordingoperation with certainty and at high efficiency irrespective of the typeof the recording head.

The present invention is effectively applicable to a so-called full-linetype recording head having a length corresponding to the maximumrecording width. Such a recording head may comprise a single recordinghead and a plural recording head combined to cover the entire width.

In addition, the present invention is applicable to a serial typerecording head wherein the recording head is fixed on the main assembly,to a replaceable chip type recording head which is connectedelectrically with the main apparatus and can be supplied with the ink bybeing mounted in the main assembly, or to a cartridge type recordinghead having an integral ink container.

The provision of the recovery means and the auxiliary means for thepreliminary operation are preferable, because they can further stabilizethe effect of the present invention. As for such means, there arecapping means for the recording head, cleaning means therefore, pressingor sucking means, preliminary heating means by the ejectionelectrothermal transducer or by a combination of the ejectionelectrothermal transducer and additional heating element and means forpreliminary ejection not for the recording operation, which canstabilize the recording operation.

As regards the kinds of the recording head mountable, it may be a singlecorresponding to a single color ink, or may be plural corresponding tothe plurality of ink materials having different recording color ordensity. The present invention is effectively applicable to an apparatushaving at least one of a monochromatic mode mainly with black and amulti-color with different color ink materials and a full-color mode bythe mixture of the colors which may be an integrally formed recordingunit or a combination of plural recording heads.

Furthermore, in the foregoing embodiment, the ink has been liquid. Itmay be, however, an ink material solidified at the room temperature orbelow and liquefied at the room temperature. Since in the ink jetrecording system, the ink is controlled within the temperature not lessthan 30° C. and not more than 70° C. to stabilize the viscosity of theink to provide the stabilized ejection, in usual recording apparatus ofthis type, the ink is such that it is liquid within the temperaturerange when the recording signal is applied. In addition, the temperaturerise due to the thermal energy is positively prevented by consuming itfor the state change of the ink from the solid state to the liquidstate, or the ink material is solidified when it is left is used toprevent the evaporation of the ink. In either of the cases, theapplication of the recording signal producing thermal energy, the inkmay be liquefied, and the liquefied ink may be ejected. The ink maystart to be solidified at the time when it reaches the recordingmaterial. The present invention is applicable to such an ink material asis liquefied by the application of the thermal energy. Such an inkmaterial may be retained as a liquid or solid material on through holesor recesses formed in a porous sheet as disclosed in Japanese Laid-OpenPatent Application No. 56847/1979 and Japanese Laid-Open PatentApplication No. 71260/1985. The sheet is faced to the electrothermaltransducers. The most effective one for the ink materials describedabove is the film boiling system.

The ink jet recording apparatus may be used as an output terminal of aninformation processing apparatus such as computer or the like, a copyingapparatus combined with an image reader or the like, or a facsimilemachine having information sending and receiving functions.

As described in the foregoing, according to the present invention, theink jet recording apparatus can be provided which can effect assuredlyits recording operation in accordance with the nature of the ink used.After the ink is used up, the information transmitting medium can bereused since only the ink cassette is exchanged. Therefore, the runningcost is reduced, and the information transmitting medium is maintainedat a correct position.

If the ink cartridge has two portions including the ink cassettecontaining the ink used for the recording and an adapter provided withmedium bearing the information relating to the ink, the adapter iscapable of detachably accepting the ink cassette. When the ink is usedup, only the ink cassette is attended to, so that the running cost isreduced, and the contact between the information medium and the mainassembly of the recording apparatus can be assuredly maintained withhigh precision.

While the invention has been described with reference to the structuresdisclosed herein, it is not confined to the details set forth and thisapplication is intended to cover such modifications or changes as maycome within the purposes of the improvements or the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An ink cartridge detachably mountable to an inkjet recording apparatus, said ink cartridge containing ink to besupplied to a recording head, comprising:an ink cassette for containingsaid ink, said ink cassette being provided with a portion for preventingerroneous mounting; and an . .adaptor.!. .Iadd.adapter .Iaddend.having areceptor for detachably receiving said ink cassette and an informationmedium for storing information relating to said ink, said informationbeing transmitted to said ink jet recording apparatus when said inkcartridge is mounted therein, said receptor having a portioncorresponding to said portion for preventing erroneous mounting.
 2. ..An apparatus.!. .Iadd.A cartridge .Iaddend.according to claim 1,wherein said ink cassette has an integral ink absorbing material foraccommodating residual ink ejected to maintain and recover ink ejectionfrom said recording head, said absorbing material being mounted to saidadapter together with said ink cassette.
 3. . .An apparatus.!. .Iadd.Acartridge .Iaddend.according to claim 2, wherein said adapter has apartition member between said ink cassette and a portion foraccommodating said ink absorbing material.
 4. . .An apparatus.!. .Iadd.Acartridge .Iaddend.according to claim 1, wherein a side wall of saidcassette is provided with a grip projection for facilitating mountingand dismounting thereof relative to said ink cartridge, and wherein theprojection also functions as a guiding rail for mounting of said inkcartridge.
 5. . .An apparatus.!. .Iadd.A cartridge .Iaddend.according toclaim 1, wherein the information medium bears information relating to adriving condition of said recording head.
 6. An ink cartridge accordingto claim 1, wherein said adapter has a guiding portion at each side forguiding said ink cartridge when said cartridge is mounted to said inkjet apparatus.
 7. An ink jet apparatus, comprising:an ink supply systemfor supplying ink from an ink cartridge containing said ink to besupplied to a recording head; wherein said ink cartridge comprises anink cassette for containing said ink, said ink cassette being providedwith a portion for preventing erroneous mounting; and an adapter havinga receptor for detachably receiving said ink cassette and an informationmedium for storing information relating to said ink, said informationbeing transmitted to said ink jet recording apparatus when said inkcartridge is mounted therein, said receptor having a portioncorresponding to said portion for preventing erroneous mounting; arecovery system for maintaining and recovering ink ejection from saidrecording head; a receptor to which said ink cartridge is detachablymountable; wherein said receptor is provided with a contact forelectrically contacting said information medium to read saidinformation, wherein said ink cartridge is detachably mountable to saidink jet apparatus.
 8. An apparatus according to claim 7, furthercomprising drive control means for driving the recording head inaccordance with the information read.
 9. An apparatus according to claim7, wherein said ink cartridge receptor is provided with a guiding membercontactable with a projection formed on a side wall of a cassetteincluding the ink container and an ink absorbing material, theprojection being effective to facilitate mounting and dismounting of thecassette relative to the ink cartridge and also effective to limit aninsertion position relative to said ink jet recording apparatus.
 10. Anapparatus according to claim 7, wherein the recording head is providedwith an electrothermal transducer for producing thermal energy toproduce a bubble to eject the ink.
 11. An apparatus according to claim7, wherein said ink cassette has an integral ink absorbing material foraccommodating residual ink ejected to maintain and recover ink ejectionfrom said recording head, said absorbing material being mounted to saidadapter together with said ink cassette.
 12. An apparatus according toclaim 11, wherein said adapter has a partition member between said inkcassette and a portion for accommodating said ink absorbing material.13. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said ink cartridge iselectrically connected with pins to permit information transmission.